Sam Bern wanted to play snare drum in the Foxboro High School Marching Band. It was his dream and he had to accomplish it anyhow. But the weight each drum and harness was 40 pounds but he weighed 50 pounds. He had a disease called Progeria. It affects only 350 kids in the world. Hence it is a rare disease. The effects of progeria include tight skin, lack of weight gain, stunted growth and heart diseases. So logically he could not carry any regular-sized snare drum. So he and his family worked with an engineer and designed a 6-pound snare drum apparatus which is lighter and easy to carry.
John Hamilton, in his interview asked him, "What is the most important thing people should know about him ?" and his answer was that he has a very happy life. He didn't think about obstacles created by progeria all the time and was able to overcome most of them. He shared 3 aspects of this Philosophy. Ferris Bueller once said," Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." His first philosophy was, "Be ok with what you ultimately can't do because there is so much you can do." Even he had progeria, most of his time was spent on thinking about things that have nothing to do with progeria at all. He chose to focus on the activities that he can do through things that he had passionate about. He has put things in the can-do category by making adjustments.
The second aspect of his philosophy for a happy life is, "Surround yourself with people you want." They provide the real positive influences in your life. They are a very real aspect of everyday life.
The third aspect of the philosophy is "Keep moving forward". Walt Disney once quoted, "Around here... We don't look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward opening up new doors and doing new things." It could be anything like doing new courses, or going out with family or outing with friends. This mentality includes staying in a forward state of mind. Don't waste energy feeling badly for yourself because when you feel bad about yourself you get stuck in a paradox where here's no room for any happiness or any emotions. Accept the problems and challenges instead of feeling bad and get through that problem.
Sam Bern felt that no matter what he chooses to become in his life but he believed that he can change the world and he strives to change the world. That's his happiness.